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More companies are chipping their workers like pets
The trend of blundering into the void of adopting new tech, damn the consequences, full speed ahead, continues this week. The Telegraph tells us about "a number of UK legal and financial firms" are in talks with a chip company to implant their employees with RFID microchips for security purposes.
Call of Duty to Blood of the Werewolf: Nathaniel McClure's indie tale
Nathaniel McClure thought his resume would make it easy to break into the indie game industry. He worked at Activision for years, starting in 2002 with QA and quickly rising to producer on a host of AAA games, including Star Wars Jedi Knight 2, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, and a lineup of Call of Duty games. By 2007, McClure wanted out. "It was 3AM when I woke up on my keyboard at the office," he told me. "I was a few milestones in, working on my fifth Call of Duty title on my fourth straight year of promotion, when it hit me. If I was to keep loving what got me into making games I would have to quit one of the largest and most popular video games in the world, something I dedicated years of my life to." McClure resigned that year, when he was a producer on Modern Warfare. He started his own studio, Epicenter, with the goal of making games that he – and other people, he hoped – would want to play. But indie development came with its own brand of bureaucracy, and dealing with publishers, platforms, funding and legal matters made McClure's journey more complex than he imagined. "I thought my Call of Duty and Wolfenstein credits would land me a dev deal no problem," McClure said. "I was an idiot – it doesn't work that way, and I am grateful that it doesn't." In 2009 – two studios, a handful of unfulfilled publisher promises and a few indie releases later – McClure founded Scientifically Proven. This year he'll finish development on a gothic, eye-catching action platformer, and what might be his favorite game ever: Blood of the Werewolf.
Blood Pact: Delve into the soul of Mogu'shan Vaults
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill looks back at the easy but fun fights in Mogu'shan Vaults as warlock. Between getting to level 90, gearing pains, the American Thanksgiving, and raiding only two nights a week, you might be in my guild's boat, which is still finishing Mogu'shan Vaults on 25man. Or maybe your raid team was fast and focused and you're already having a jolly time in Heart of Fear or even Terrace of Endless Spring. Whether you're fast on progression or taking your time, main class or alt character, here's a refresher on Mogu'shan Vaults as a warlock.
Preview: Rock of the Dead
Rock of the Dead is unapologetically The Typing of the Dead meets Rock Band. As Bryan Jury, CCO of developer Epicenter Studios and producer on the game, put it, "People already own the plastic. We're just giving them a different type of game to play with it." And an on-rails shooter where one uses the guitar or drum peripheral already in close proximity to their entertainment center is certainly different. Gameplay is what you'd expect from some cracked out House of the Dead mod: creatures of death come toward the screen constantly as the camera moves on rails and it's your job to fret (or drum) the undead to un-undeath. Epicenter believes that the title is compatible with most major guitar and drum peripherals. It's also in the process of testing beyond the Guitar Hero and Rock Band peripherals that many already own.
Wii to fret over 'Rock of the Dead'
All you really need to know about Rock of the Dead is that it's -- as the developers at Epicenter (Real Heroes: Firefighters) describe -- Typing of the Dead meets Guitar Hero. Judging by the build demonstrated to IGN, the game allows you to use a Rock Band or Guitar Hero ax to chop through the legions of the undead. Obviously, a guitar peripheral will be mandatory, though the developer is preparing contingency plan should Nintendo frown upon the requirement. There's quite a bit of nerdy star power behind the game, with Neil Patrick Harris voicing the main character and Felicia Day featuring as the love interest. Rock of the Dead, which aims for a "cheesy/campy" feel throughout, will be budget-priced between $30 and $40 when it shambles into retail "late spring or early summer." [Via 1UP]
What's in a Name: Epicenter Studios
Epicenter is the studio that currently holds the title for "2009 Game That By All External Signs Should Have Been Awful, But Is Actually Pretty Fun" for its Real Heroes: Firefighter. To reward the company prematurely, we've decided to tell you exactly how it got it's name. A few years ago, Epicenter co-founder Nathaniel McClure and I were at a friend's house in the San Fernando Valley, just north of Los Angeles, brainstorming a name for the game studio we were just starting up. Now, naming things is actually a pretty difficult process filled with ups (coming up with an absolutely killer name that will destroy the industry as we know it) and downs (finding out it's already been taken by someone who likes to create flash games based on Creed videos). After coming to the bitter realization that just about any good name we agreed on was already taken, we sulked in our chairs in silence. That's when the walls started to rattle. Even after living in California for nearly 10 years, you still don't get used to a solid earthquake. As the adrenaline starts to flow, you tend to make internal guesses whether you should continue sitting there stoically or jump under the nearest table. Our good friend Kekoa, under the nearest table, wondered where we thought the epicenter of the quake was since it felt so close. Nathaniel and I looked at each other, realizing it was as good a name as any, especially considering we were just a few miles from the epicenter of Los Angeles' last big quake in Northridge. Epicenter Studios finally had a name. Brian Jury Epicenter studios co-founder Liked this story? Be sure to check out the What's In A Name archives.
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Wii Fanboy Review: Critter Round-Up
One of the stranger games that's currently offered on WiiWare is Critter Round-Up, or Saku Saku Animal Panic in Japan. Knowing that this was created by a relatively new developer, Epicenter Studios, I wasn't really sure what to expect. Never one to turn down the possibility of a good puzzle game, though, I bravely endeavored to corral these critters to the best of my abilities.With another costly puzzle game lurking around the corner, would Critter Round-Up turn out to be worth the download? Keep reading to find out!%Gallery-23224%
Real Heroes: Firefighter finds real publisher
Conspiracy Entertainment obviously wants to ensure that there'll be none of this fake hero business on the Wii, because it's gone and signed up Epicenter Studios' Real Heroes: Firefighter, which it intends to release in the U.S. during Q2, 2009. Because it's been almost a year since we heard anything about the project, this morning's press release kindly reminds us that Real Heroes: Firefighter will utilize the Wii Remote as a fire hose, a fire axe, and a crowbar, all in the name of fighting Epicenter's proprietary "Thinking Fire" technology. Conspiracy CFO Keith Tanaka was also on hand with some quotes about product line-ups and distribution, for which we thank him and move on.[Via press release]
Epicenter Studios planning to fight fire with... Wii
Despite Mega Man's interpretation of the subject, a fireman is designed to put out fires, not to start them. Yes, we said "designed." Mega Man actually got that part right -- firemen are, in fact, super efficient robots. According to upstart developer Epicenter Studios, they're also the perfect subject for a video game on Nintendo's Wii. The studio, comprised of former producers for the Call of Duty, Shrek, Spider-Man and Star Trek franchises, recently announced a Wii game by the name of Real Heroes: Firefighter. Gamasutra describes it as a "firefighting action puzzle game," one that has the Wiimote becoming a water hose, a fire axe or a crowbar (for saving people, not bashing aliens!). The game also features "Thinking Fire" technology meant to incur "unexpected changes to the environments that will suddenly alter the player's options and strategies." It sounds an awful lot like real, dumb fire to us, but we'll take anything given today's glaring lack of Burning Rangers 2. If the game finds a publisher and makes its planned 2008 holiday release, we'll see whether or not those flames are intelligent enough to spread to the sales charts.[Via Wii Fanboy]
Hold the hose real tight and get ready for a real fight
A new developer called Epicenter Games is developing a non-violent firefighting action-puzzle game for the Wii, called Real Heroes: Firefighters. The title should help prevent confusion with those other Real American Heroes. Real Heroes casts players as a new firefighter in a busy station, and, of course, uses the Wiimote to simulate a fire hose.The game makes use of what Epicenter calls "Thinking Fire," which will totally beat you at Othello react unexpectedly and semi-randomly to your actions. The game doesn't have a publisher yet, but they're hoping for a release in late 2008.
